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“You need to leave her alone.” Hunter must have come up behind her, and now she felt his hand on her shoulder.
She hadn’t told him about Drew, but the rumor mill must have carried the story full circle. She was tempted to let Hunter chase him off. It would be easy.
But she’d already done this the “easy” way. And Hunter wasn’t her keeper—he wasn’t even her boyfriend yet. She suspected that the new attitude she was getting around school had more to do with Gabriel Merrick’s reputation than her own. If she kept letting guys defend her, she’d never find the type of respect she desperately needed.
For her own good.
So she turned and looked up at Hunter. “I can handle this.”
He stared back at her. She could tell he was remembering the altercation in her driveway, their discussion at lunch.
Then his eyes flicked to Drew, and she read the dislike there. Hunter dropped his hand. “All right.”
“Besides,” said Becca, turning back to Drew, “I’m not going to listen long unless he’s going to start spouting an apology—”
“I am.”
He didn’t even look at her for those two words, and they sounded like they’d been choked out of him.
“Let’s hear it,” she called over the music.
Now he looked up, and she caught a hint of his familiar scowl. “Can we go outside or somewhere I don’t have to yell? I don’t really want to announce this to the whole school.”
“Too bad,” snapped Quinn. “I think we should do a public castration right here—”
“Quinn.” Becca sighed.
“Hey,” called a guy in the crowd, some senior that Becca didn’t know. “Look. It’s McRapist.” Then he punched Drew in the shoulder, hard.
“Yeah,” said another guy. “I liked the hottie’s idea of a little public payback.” Then he shoved Drew.
And suddenly more students were crowding them, full of catcalls and anger.
Drew set his jaw and glared, but Becca saw him flinch.
And something about that spoke to her. She knew exactly what it felt like.
“Come on,” she said to him. “You have five minutes.” Then she looked back over her shoulder at Hunter, who already stood poised to follow. “Stay.”
The night air had chilled a few degrees, full of dampness that promised rainfall wasn’t far off. Dozens of kids were on the quad, so despite the darkness, she didn’t feel alone with him. Still, Becca shivered and wished for a sweater.
Drew’s hands were shoved into his pockets. He was walking along the face of the building, and she kept pace with him, glad to be moving.
He didn’t look at her. “You know half the school thinks I’m a ra**st.”
“Huh,” she said. “What’s that like? For half the school to think something about you that isn’t true?”
“Don’t be like that, Becca.”
Unbelievable. What an ass**le. “This is one hell of an apology, Drew.”
“Just what are you telling people?”
She rounded on him. “I’m not telling anyone anything,” she snapped. “I’m not like you. I don’t spread lies about people.”
“Yeah, poor baby. You know what you did. And now you’re walking around, acting like I didn’t do exactly what you wanted.”
That stung, like he’d struck her.
